Hart: Special holiday for lawyer John Raley, innocent client

CALLIE RICHMOND : FOR THE CHRONICLE
FREE MAN: Michael Morton holds the order officially clearing him of murder in a packed Williamson County courtroom on Monday as his attorney, John Raley, shares Morton's joy.

Christmas, that celebration of miracles, new life and truth, can find expression in unlikely settings.

This year, for Houston attorney John Raley and his family, it arrived six days early in a nondescript Georgetown courtroom, when a state district judge stepped down from his imposing dais to declare the innocence of Michael Morton, a man who spent 25 years in prison wrongly accused of the murder of his wife, Christine.

"I think you've had enough of judges looking down at you," state District Judge Sid Harle said as he shook Morton's hand. "Merry Christmas."

The silver-haired former grocery store employee, whose life was turned upside down in 1986 when his wife was found bludgeoned in bed while he worked an early morning shift, glowed at his attorneys.

Among them was Raley, who seven years ago agreed to work pro bono - free of charge - to persuade a Texas judge to allow the DNA testing of a bandanna found at the Morton crime scene 25 years ago. The DNA test would ultimately prove Morton's innocence - and also lead to the arrest of the man police now believe to be Christine's real killer, and the perpetrator of another unsolved murder in Austin.

Raley's involvement in the case began when a mutual acquaintance in Houston's legal community suggested to Innocence Project attorney Nina Morrison that she solicit his help as a volunteer.

Morrison now laughs when she recalls the naiveté that Raley, a civil litigator with expertise in medical malpractice, brought to the criminal court arena: "He said, 'Of course the prosecutors will want to do DNA testing. Who wouldn't want to do DNA testing?' "

Morrison, jaded from years of fighting injustices that occur all too often in the criminal court system, knew better. Prosecutors do not like to admit mistakes.

While most lawyers who volunteer for Innocence Project cases work in large law firms where "somebody else" picks up the slack, Morrison noted, Raley works with a small firm - Raley & Bowick. "There aren't a lot of 'somebody elses' in John's firm," Morrison noted. "And this was a huge undertaking."

No one knows that better than Raley's wife, Kelly, herself an attorney in the Raley & Bowick law firm, or his three children, Kate, William and Wesley, who were present at Monday's exoneration hearing.

Texting her opinion

Kelly remembers sitting in the stands of a Memorial High football game this fall, and noticing that John was texting a fellow attorney about the case. She picked up her own phone to send John a stern message: "Obsession," she admonished him.

Kate, now a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma, was only 13 when her father first told her about the Morton case. The grisly murder would become a mainstay of family dinner conversations.

Her dad asked her opinion. "I said, 'If you think he's innocent, then he must be,' " she recalls. Now, she says of Morton, "I feel like I know him. When my dad would visit him in prison, he would always take him books."

Similar killing found

Morrison remembers trying to caution Raley that the case might lead to a dead end. If the DNA was too degraded to test, she warned, there might not be a way to help Morton. Raley told her: "We are never going to be out of options."

"His whole office was involved," Morrison said. Kelly found a website devoted to unsolved Texas murder cases; a paralegal found a similar unsolved murder committed two years after Christine's.

The DNA found on the bandanna outside the Morton's house matched DNA found at the crime scene of Deborah Ann Baker, who was killed two years after Christine, not far from where the Mortons lived. A Bastrop man has now been arrested in connection with both murders - thanks to Raley and the rest of Morton's legal team.

Critical evidence

On Monday, Raley and the Innocence Project attorneys requested that Harle convene a "court of inquiry" to determine why Morton's original lawyers were never told of crucial facts they uncovered: that Morton's 3-year-old son told his grandmother about a "monster" who beat his mother while his daddy was away. That neighbors witnessed a mustachioed man in a green van casing the Morton's house. That Christine's credit card was used in San Antonio days after her death.

They believe that former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson, now a judge, intentionally withheld the crucial information that led to Morton's wrongful conviction. Evidence suggests that Anderson didn't call a sheriff's department investigator to testify at Morton's trial because the defense might have learned the facts that pointed to Morton's innocence.

'What is horrifying'

Under well-established law, prosecutors must share exculpatory evidence. By withholding crucial facts, Anderson could face contempt charges or even disbarment.

"Thoughout our time of working together, John brought a level of moral outrage to proceedings that I don't see very often," Morrison says. That was evident in the brief statement Raley made to reporters Monday: What is horrifying about the Morton case, Raley said, is that "it could have happened to anybody in this courtroom."

Then there were smiles and tears when the Raley family - with Michael Morton in the center - posed for a photographer.

No family Christmas card could ever better express the spirit of the season.